Corfu SEPE΄s proposals to solve teachers΄ accommodation problem
CORFU. Leasing of hotels, housing and meal allowance from the local government, financial allowance, discounted passes for ferry and long-distance bus tickets are among the union΄s proposals.
The Corfu primary teachers' union (SEPE) submitted five proposals to the Central Corfu Municipality to address the serious problem of teachers' accommodation.
The LASY party introduced the issue of the teachers' support regarding the housing problems they face at tonight's Municipal Council meeting. The party's leader and mayoral candidate Yiannis Borbotis had spoken to Enimerosi before for a previous article on the housing issue on the island.
The six proposals
As SEPE pointed out in its statement, given that the law has changed and there is no longer the limitation of 18,000 inhabitants and therefore island municipalities "can provide free meals and accommodation" to employees, we propose the following:
1) The Central Corfu Municipality should proceed immediately to all necessary actions, to rent hotels, guesthouses and residences to immediately meet the accommodation needs of colleagues on our island, either free of charge or with their financial participation, to the extent that this is possible.
2) The Central Corfu Municipality should request that the Ministry of Interior includes newly appointed and permanent teachers in the right of access to housing and meal allowances from the local government.
3) The Central Corfu Municipality should pay in time the financial allowance to colleagues working on the island this year or else pay the allowance in a different way (in kind) either through a contract with a restaurant or through the payment of coupons for the purchase of items from supermarkets on the island.
4) Free meals or meal allowance for colleagues, especially for those who are not permanent residents. Collaboration between municipalities, the Region, and the Ionian University for the provision of free meals to all educators, without unacceptable limits on the number of beneficiaries or high prices.
5) We are also asking in consultation with the shipping companies to ensure a 50% discount on ferry boats and long-distance buses (KTEL) tickets to facilitate travel.
6) Those of our colleagues who have children of their own here in Corfu, should be able, even with late registration in nurseries, to enroll their children, regardless of the recruitment time.
"As an educational union, Corfu SEPE has repeatedly reported on the situation regarding the housing of teachers and all other employees in the public and private sector already since 2018, while in 2019 SEPE sent a request for a housing allowance for teachers, and every year it holds meetings with all bodies (Municipalities and Regional Authorities) for the satisfaction of these requests. However, what we as teachers faced this year is unprecedented. More than 500 colleagues, newly appointed and substitutes, were faced with an unprecedented situation last school year. Few houses were granted to teachers until June and those that were granted were given at prices that reached €400-€450 (on average) for a 20-25sq.m. studio apartment or €500-€600 for a double-spaced room," stated SEPE among other things.
MARIA BAZDRIYIANNI
